Screen capture from the film The Lives of Others, based on the lives of citizens monitored by the Stasi in Communist East Germany.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) continues to pour time and taxpayer money into convincing the American people that there’s an epidemic of sex trafficking here. So bad is this alleged epidemic that ordinary crime-control measures won’t work, hence the deparment is recruiting truck drivers and hotel workers to be its eyes and ears on the ground. Ugh.

“claims of being an adult though appearance suggests adolescent features”

refusal of room cleaning services for multiple days

Take heed, lovers on romantic getaways, photographers on assignment, beauty-product junkies, tech workers, cash carriers, alcoholics, late sleepers, slobs, immodest dressers, people on the autism spectrum, people with body-odor problems, single patrons seeking hotel-bar hookups, light packers, and those with a youthful appearance: DHS is onto you!

Meanwhile, in California, the Attorney General’s office, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California, and an organization called Truckers Against Trafficking have been teaming up to train truck drivers on how to identify and report suspected sex traffickers. The program essentially urges truckers to report people offering prostitution at truck stops, making sure to include “actionable information” such as a physical descriptions of the individual, car make and model, license plate number, etc.

“Given the cross-jurisdictional nature of the crime of human trafficking and the use of major thoroughfares by traffickers, truck drivers are particularly well-positioned to aid law enforcement,” states a press release from California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris. The training “will also feature The Freedom Drivers Project, a first-of-its-kind 48-foot mobile exhibit that includes artifacts from trafficking cases, portraits of Truckers Against Trafficking members, and ways members of the public can join the fight against human trafficking.”